Advanced tech courses offered to students

Haywood County high school students will have more educational opportunities in the areas of electronics and machining, thanks to a nearly $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Haywood Community College and Haywood County Schools will use the two-year, $193,000 grant to create a dual enrollment electronics engineering technician option for high school students. The effort will also work to recruit females into electronics and machining careers. The goal is to train workers to meet the skilled employment needs of area manufacturers.

There has been a decrease in jobs in traditional manufacturing as they are replaced with more technologically oriented positions. Also, a high percentage of the manufacturing workforce is nearing retirement and those entering the work force are generally not trained to replace them.

Manufacturing is an important part of the economy in Haywood County, providing high wages in comparison with other sectors of the local economy. The major manufacturing employers in the county are Evergreen Packaging, Haywood Vocational Opportunities, Consolidated Metco, Sonoco Plastics, Giles Chemicals and Powell Industries.